ENERGY BRIEFING: Biden’s Clean Energy Goals Meet Coal Country

摘要

West Virginia lawmakers occupy key perches on Capitol Hill as President Joe Biden introduces a sweeping infrastructure and climate package and pledges to revitalize coal country.Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, is a crucial swing vote in the 50-50 Senate and chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is the topRepublican on the Environment and Public Works Committee and an architect of the GOP’s own infrastructure proposal, a $568 billion counter offer to Biden’s. In the House, West Virginiamembers sit on the infrastructure-adjacent Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees.West Virginia is the second-largest producer of coal in the U.S., behind Wyoming, but historically it has employed the lion’s share of industry workers. Although the number of coal minersnationwide has dwindled to the tens of thousands, in West Virginia they can earn an annual salary of up to about $90,000, money that has helped drive local economies. Even as coalproduction has shrunk and natural gas has accelerated, the industry in the state is still potent. Coal generated $14 billion in total economic activity in 2019, according to a March studyfrom the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics.